An Accidental Goddess

Reviewer: Jake Beal

Author: Linnea Sinclair

Published: 2006

Reviewed: 2006-06-25

Publisher: Bantam

OK, this book was wierd. So, on the one hand, it's a straight upscifi sort of universe of the sort that Bujold would be happy to stickher characters in. On the other hand, there are psychic magiciansrunning around. Um, what? Not many of them, of course---few enough,in fact, that the main character gets deified in her absence on thebasis of being one, thus setting up the whole plot.

But it's not really about any of that. It's, well, a romance novel.I know, I know, I should be ashamed for even touching such a thing.And there were definitely times I felt that way. Like about one pageafter the two main characters meet (you know, the ultra-powerful spacemage woman and the hot-shot youngest admiral in the fleet, just acouple of everyday folks) and there's a paragraph so embarassing Ineed to reproduce it in full.

"The exam room's utilitarian overheads were harsh, bright, but theirlight played through her short, pale hair in a mixture of silver andgold like moonlight and starlight. There was an almost etherialbeauty about her. Mack felt as if he knew her, but from a dream."

The context? He's interrogating her on suspicion of smuggling. Raiseyour hand if you think these two aren't going to end up havingpassionate sex, the like of which neither has ever encountered before,that will change their formerly meaningless lives forever? Raise yourhand if you think there's not going to be any sort of deux ex machinaat the climax of the plot? I thought so.

Yeah, it's trash. But it's good trash. It's got a sense of humor,it's got a shifting perspective. It's got predictability, but,frankly, if you make it past the first twenty pages, you aren't goingto mind it much. It reminds me in many way, actually, of AnneMcCaffrey. Who I loved when I was a teenager, but who just feelsbland to me now. Of course, there was a little more zest in thisone---Ms. McCaffrey prefers to have somewhat adolescent characterswith a more wistful and romantic approach to sex, where Ms. Sinclairisn't ashamed to have them just plain like to screw.

In the end, it's a romance novel. It's got starships and magic, butthey're just a backdrop for the romance. It's got an almostShakespearean level of mistaken beliefs and deceit, all in the serviceof increasing the sexual tension in the air, but you know everything'sgoing to work out. And in the end, even the parrots get to have theirday.